
Class 

Copyright ]^^_ . 

COPYRIGHT DEPCSrr 



16f 



La Carpinteria U 



Text by Elizabeth Antoinette yard 
Photographs by George Gilbert McLean 
Foreword by Stewart Edward White 






PACIFIC 

COAST 

PUBLISHING 

COMPANY 

SANTA 

BARBARA 

CAL. 



Published and Copyrighted 1910 by 

THE CARPINTERIA WOMAN'S CLUB 

Carpinteria, California 



CCU277142 



FOREWORD 




THE very complete and able exposi- 
tion by Miss Ward explains better 
than I could do it myself why we 
have come to Carpinteria. Nowhere in my 
experience, do mountain, sea, marshland and 
shore offer quite the combination they do 
here. The three-mile stretch of beach is in 
most places three or four hundred feet wide at 
low tide. At 
high tide, the 
breaking 
power of the 
^wide flat and 
the half-mile 
bar outside pile 
up a truly im- 
posing surf, even at times when the Santa 
Barbara beach is washed by the merest ripple. 
This large surf breaks far out and is unac- 




(ix) 



companied by undertow. As a consequence, 
the bathing is most safe and at the same time 
most exciting. The Hawaiian sport of surf- 
board riding can here be enjoyed as nowhere 
else outside the Islands. 

The marshes, from the view point of the 
dunes, offer a remarkable picture, especially 
with the spires and roofs of the village nest- 
ling in the trees, across their broad wastes. 
Here, too, the mountains rise more sheer and 
imminent than anywhere else along the coast; 
and the direction of their axis is peculiarly 
fortunate in the catching of cross-lights and 
shadows in their many canons. 

But I think that from our point of view, 
probably the most remarkable advantage — 
aside from the beach— is the climate. One 
would naturally think that the sea-shore 
would be colder in cool weather and hotter in 
baking weather than more sheltered locali- 
ties. The contrary is the case. On a hot 
summer day I found Santa Barbara's ther- 
mometers ten to fifteen degrees higher; while 
of a cold and foggy morning the sands and 

(x) 



the sea radiate enough stored heat to temper 
the chill. 

It must always be remembered that a 
place is civilized, in the best meaning of the 
term, only in direct proportion to its public 
spirit, and very little according to its private 
enterprise. As long as private enterprise ex- 
ists alone, that country is being pioneered 
merely. This is true even though the ranches 
and farms are well-cleared and well-cultivat- 
ed ; even though the private dwellings are 
substantial and in good taste. Only when 
men begin to reach out be3^ond their private 
concerns, w^hich have in the beginnings quite 
justly occupied their whole attention, to plan 
work for the concerns of all does the commun- 
ity begin to draw together into a civilized 
unit. Thus, in a way, public works are a 
measure of private civilization. 

The spirit of Carpinteria, a small com- 
munity, seems in this respect admirable. The 
paving, planting and beautifying of Linden 
Avenue indicates a spirit far in advance of 
most places of the size. The projected plant- 

(xi) 



ing along the county highway, the town hall, 
and the system of good roads, which, 1 under- 
stand, awaits only the solving of some legal 
difficulties, are all gratifying. With these 
good roads, and a tourist hotel to take ad- 
vantage of the exceptional beach life, should 
come an era of intensified prosperity and 
pride. 

Stewart Edward White. 




(xii) 



La Carpinteria 



BE 



LA CARPINTERIA 






I WAS ready to ransack 
even the islands of the 
sea to find a home," 
said a recent comer to the 
Carpinteria valle3^ "but 
when I reached here, I knew 
my quest was ended. This 
is the paradise where I shall spend the rest of 
my days." 

This bit of Elysium, so opportunely dis- 
covered, lies at the extreme Southeast corner 
of Santa Barbara 
County in the 
Golden State, and 
holds a more than 
passing interest, 
both for the rarity 
of its setting, which 




is its chief asset, and also for its connection 
with a part of the industrial development of 
Southern California. 

Furnishing, as it does, the only highway 
along the coast at this point, it is a happy 
necessity to all travellers between Northern 
and Southern California, whether by rail or 
carriage. The Casitas Pass through the 
mountains is the only entrance from the east 
except the beach road, and as this can be used 
at present only at low tide, travel has been 
greatly facilitated now that the railroad com- 
pany has completed the permanent wagon 




road which it built here in connection with its 
new breakwater and road-bed. 

With the beach for its south border, it lies 
in the close embrace of an arm of the moun- 
tain on the north, not more than a mile and a 
half wide and about eight miles long. Grad- 




tially rising hills from its western boundarj^, 
and a few miles further on lie Santa Barbara 
and its environs. At both east and west ends 
of the vallej the railroad has been built with 
intrepid courage upon a bed that Las been 



I A Carpinteria, or " The Carpenter Shop," 
presumably takes its name from the first 
carpenter shop built in this region by 
Mexican soldiers in the early part of last cen- 
tur\^ The story runs that some exceptionally 
fine timber was discovered along the bed of 
the vallc}^ creek, and here a log shelter was 
built where the Padres from the Santa Bar- 
bara Mission as well as the soldiers from the 
Presidio came twelve miles to fashion their 
ox-yokes and cart wheels and various other 
implements of every day use. The old shop 
still stands but it is so made over that the 
shades of the departed carpenters would prob- 
ably never recognize it. 



A more poetical interpretation of the 
name would make the whole valley a carpen- 
ter shop where myriads of ^'carpinteros" or 
woodpeckers hammered the summer through 



^t§ 




as they ceaselessly fitted acorns into the bark 
of the live oaks that once grew here in a dense 
forest. 



10 




The unusual combination of mountains 
and ocean is the key to the beauty and at- 
tractiveness of the valley. Verdure, luxuri- 
ance, color are everywhere, all the time, turn 
your e\'es where 3'ou will. 




11 



A slight shifting of the range of vision 
calls out an entirely new picture, and always 
the picture changes with the season of the 




year, the hour of the day and the shifting 
mists and haze. 



12 







Entering from the beach road, one crosses 
the month of a little canon marking the east- 
ern boundary and follows a tortuous way 
over its west wall. 



13 



At the vSutnmit, one instinctively stops to 
drink in the beauty of the panorama that dis- 
closes itself. Rugged mountains in the back- 
ground rising to a height of over four thous- 
and feet, then the lesser ridges softened with 
their dense covering of scrub oak and varied 
under-brush, and finally, the gently yielding 
foot-hills giving way to the valley and yet 
made part of it by the rich fields cultivated 
even into the little canons between their sides. 



15 




Plumy orchards of English walnut trees 
dot the entire valley, making amends to some 
degree for the magnificent live oaks sacrificed 
for them; and, carpeting the spaces between, 
are everywhere the riotous, tumbling, creep- 
ing bean vines that produce a large part of 
the wealth of the place. 



16 




So much 
luxuriant green 
during the dry 
summer months 
is a perpetual 
rest to the eye 
and nerve and 
is perhaps res- 
ponsible for the 
oft repeated ex- 
cla m ation of 
visitors to the 
valley: "How 
peaceful it all is, 
and how rest- 
ful!" 



17 



Half hidden in the extreme background of 
the picture where the horizons of mountain 
and water meet, is Santa Barbara, plainly 
seen on a clear morning, and in a wide sweep 
at the left lies the blue Pacific. As if enough 
beauty were not already crowded into one 
landscape, the towering Santa Barbara Is- 
lands, three hours from the mainland and yet 
seeming only a few miles distant, add the last 
perfect touch. 




18 







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And this is only one picture. As one 
climbs the grade from the CasitasPass, moun- 
tains and hills and a richh- fertile arm of the 
valley greet the eye. If one wishes a yiew to 
riyal the famed Bay of Naples, he has only to 
climb up the foothills on the north a few hun- 
dred feet to find it. Santa Barbara has grown 
nearer and the islands smile a benign greeting 
across the wonderful sapphire payement of 
the channel. 

Another yiew always pleasing is found 
looking east from the western end of the yal- 
ley where a great rounded mountain stretches 
its ample proportions between the beach and 
the Pass, a magnificent sentinel appropriate 
to the treasure which it guards. 



21 



From here the valley assumes a more 
basin-like appearance, the village differentiates 
itself and the little outlying ranches become 
factors with a meaning, while the half green 
sand dunes and the irregular and foamy 
fringe of breakers equip the ocean with a new 
aspect and mark the individuality of the pic- 
ture. 



23 




The various canons 
24 




with their charming drives and picnic possi- 
bilities deserve a sketch by themselves, and not 
the least of their advantages is their perfect 
accessibilit\\ A twent}^ minute drive will take 
one, for instance, to Franklin Canon 



25 




away from sordid cares 



26 



to the very heart of nature. 




27 




or, if the ocean is preferred, 
28 



the clean sandy stretches of beach lie even 
nearer. One can hardly wax too enthusiastic 
over this beach. If scenery is desired, it is im- 
possible to get away from it. With the inter- 
vening valley cut off by the sand dunes, the 
impressive mountains seem almost to meet the 
sea. and the white curving shore-line offers all 
the delights of a beach drive for a distance of 
three miles or more. Where the dunes give 
way to cliffs at the east, the scene is varied 
by great masses of rocks where the spray from 
the broken waves is a continual beauty and 
delight. 



29 



It is the repeated testimony of visitors 
that there is no finer beach for bathing on the 
coast, and there is fishing the 3^ear round. 
Camping grounds are available at various 
points and the summer cottage has made its 
debut. It is an eloquent tribute to the re- 
sources of the beach that Mr. Stewart Edward 
White has chosen these dunes as a setting for 
his summer bungalow, where the ocean and 
islands are in the foreground and the moun- 
tains in equal beauty behind. A marshland 
with a creek running through it is near by and 
affords opportunity for rowing amid the 
rushes for hours without retracing one's 
tracks. Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson also 
has purchased property along the beach. 



30 




31 




The tourist hotel does not exist at present, 
though inquiries for such a place are growing 
more frequent. A mountain resort, Shepard's 
Inn, at the mouth of the Pass has attracted 
visitors for a number of years; 



32 



and recently another, Stanley Park, has been 
opened farther back in the hills where one may 
enjoy either camp or hotel life 











iir ; 


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34 











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beside a most id^'llic monnt^in stream in the 
presence al\va\^s of a cool ocean breeze. 




35 



m 



) 




Asidefrom the marshy 
tract alreadj- men- 
tioned, the whole 
valley is composed of 

concentrated fertility, -^ . y 

and every foot ""of 

ground is under cultiva- 
tion of the most vigor- 
ous sort. The natural 
moisture is thus conser- 
ved as far as possible'^and irriga- 
tion is resorted to but very 
little. The two 
principal industries have al- 
ready been touched 
upon, the growing of 
English walnuts and 
various kinds of beans, 
and it is interesting to 
that it was in this little valley 
were first nurtured in South- 
ern Calif- ^ , ornia 



y 

36 





and from here they have extended all down the 
coast. The Lima bean is the variety principally 
grown and their great success is due to the fact 
that the_v can be produced without irrigation 
or poling and have a suffi- 
ciently long season to 
ma ture them . It is only 
within the last few years 
that the rest of Southern 
California has under- 
taken these industries on 
a commercial scale ^^^ ^ proud son 

of Carpin 




heard t o 
'' They're 
beans and 
south of us 
it took Carpin- 
to show them 
Theyearl^^ output of wal- 
nuts is about twenty- 
two car loads, and of 
beans, sixty car loads. 
Two large ware- 




t eria was 

r e m a r k : 

r a i s ing 

w alnuts 

-yes- but 

teria folks 

howtodoit." 




houses have been built recently to accommo- 
date the increasing harvests. An interesting 
and marked feature of the bean industr3^ is 
the growing of seed beans for eastern seeds- 
men, a ver3^ different matter from merely sup- 
phnng the general market. 



While beans and walnuts are the principal 
products of the valley, they are by no means 
the only ones. Lemons are very successfully 
grown with an annual average output of fifty 
car loads; olives are rapidly coming to the 
front as an important crop, the shipment last 

38 



year amounting to five carloads, and the dried 
fruit — apricots and prunes — for one season, fills^ 
four cars. Strawberries ripen the year round. 
In fact, nearly all plant life flourishes inevit- 
ably in the rich soil, humid atmosphere and a 
mean annual temperature of from sixty ta 
sixty-five degrees. 

A soil that produces commercial products 
so luxuriantly is necessarily the exuberant 
mother of all sorts of riotous garden shrub- 
bery; giant rose vines are a common sight, 
and geraniums and nasturtiums are glorious 
weeds. 



40 




mMM 



A hundred or more species of beautiful 
wild flowers are everywhere on exposed hill- 
sides and on shadj^ canon walls, full, fresh and 
vigorous in the ^^enial climate. 




Heregrows 
the largest 
grape vine 
in the 
world 



44 




measuring nine feet in circumiereiice a foot 
from the ground. A trellis covering a quarter 
of an acre supports the branches that are res- 
pectable sized vines themselves, even at their 
extremity. 




45 



The people 
of the valley are 
rich in their con- 
tentment, with 
neither gr e a t 
wea 1th nor 
povert}^ and 
the old ranches 
are undivided. 
Realestatedoes 
not change 
hands frequent- 
ly, and he v^ho 
would buy land 
and make him- 
self a home in 
this little para- 
dise may count 
himself fortun- 
ate ifhis powers 
o f persuasion 
prove successful in driving a trade. A good 
price is seldom any object. ''Why should I 
sell?" is the query. ''Where can I better in- 
vest my money?" 




46 



The beauty of the surroundings, the fertil- 
ity of the soil and the irresistible delight of 
an even and semi-tropical climate inevitably 
cast their spell, and it is with mingled feehngs 
that the old settlers watch the encroachments 
of the outside world upon the well ordered 
routine of their pastoral life. 

Elizabeth Antoinette Ward. 




47 



DEC 1 



I p. An 'II 



LACARPINTERIA 



